STEWARDSHIP SERMON HOW GOD GUIDES
Exodus 13:17-14:31
A man was on vacation and couldn’t find a business place and
stopped to ask directions. The man giving the direction replied:
"Just drive down this road about 5 miles and then turn left at the Stop n Go."
He drove 5 miles, then 6, then 7. At about 10 miles down he stopped for
directions again. The man he asked replied "Just go back down this road about
5 miles and turn right at the Stop n Go"
The traveler said: I have been there, there is no Stop and Go, Super America, or 7/11,
Oh no the man said: It’s on a pole. Red light on the top and green light on the bottom.
Don’t we all long for direction?
To have leadership that takes us forward.
Why do birds and animals, fish and whales
find their way in a vast ocean,
And we get lost in the next county.
The Arctic tern lives seven degrees south of the North Pole.
But that bird migrates 11,000 miles to Antarctica
and returns to seven degrees south of the North Pole.
How can it do that? Polarized light?
Navigating by sun and stars?
For the believer it’s simply that God gave the gift of guidance to the fleet flying bird.
What about the Atlantic salmon.
Birthed in its spawning area it swims downstream
and makes it over 900 miles out into the ocean.
And come back to the same tributary stream and beach to spawn again and again.
How can they do that? Are they sensitive to the slight chemical differences at the mouths of different streams? Or Are they guided by God gift of navigation.
We can take a 100 tons of metal put wings on it.
And punch in some coordinates and the GPS system
Will guide that plane not only to the city but also will land it.
Now if Man can do that to an airplane,
Can not our Creator God do that to a man?
What are Gods GPS points He uses to guide us?
HOW DOES GOD GUIDE US?
a. By direct intervention- voice from heaven,
b. By past failures and success.
c. By His Word—the Bible.
d. By the presence of the Holy Spirit-
e. By our peers,
f. By our conscience,
g. By our prayers and a relationship with Him.
Today I want us to look at the Israelites and see how
God guided them coming out of the land of captivity in Egypt
GOD GUIDES US
I. WITH HIS PROTECTION
God GUIDES US BY PROTECTING us from dangers
we have never seen and do not even know exist.
Next to the resurrection of the Lord,
The Exodus stands as one of the greatest expression of God’s power in the Bible.
600,000 men, with their families and animals,
2 million all together.
left Egypt and waked out to their destinies.
They not only left Egypt,
But Egypt asked them to leave.
There were two routes to the promised land.
Exodus 13:17 God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”
(MAP: )
This Land route was called the Via Maris,
Means: “the way of the Sea.” Isaiah 9:1
The Israelites would have taken only 5 days to march straight
from Egypt to the Promised Land.
(Map: EGYPT ROUTE “way of the SANDJ
Instead God sent them home the long route.
They trekked along the water of the Suez Arm of the Red sea.
It appeared to be a bad alternative.
Having lived their for 40 years Moses knew,
that there was Nothing to eat or drink.
This was wilderness
(PICTURE OF WILDERNESS)
God direction for the future began with a detour.
Maybe we feel that way sometimes.
That We’re sent on a detour, and we have been abandoned by God.
Didn’t he hear me.
Didn’t I misunderstand him, hear him correctly?
At Sea World, a 6 year old absolutely refused to see the show
featuring Shamu the killer whale, but he wouldn’t tell why. No
amount of discussion could get him to change his mind.
Later, when they got home, they discovered the reason for his
reluctance. An aunt had told him how exciting the show would be
because "...they choose children from the audience to feed Shamu."
God guides us through protection:
The concept of crisis in Chinese is represented by two words,
"danger" and "opportunity."
When we manage the crisis of our lives following the example of Jesus Christ,
we are able to turn the dangers and disasters of life
into opportunities to fulfill the will of God.
God guides us by his protection
There were enemies there that the Israelites were not ready to face, like the Philistines
As it was when they did encounter a problem..
The first thing they wanted to do was to go back to Egypt’s brick vats and onions.
Exodus 14:10
Why does God lead us on detours?
Sometimes because God knows we can’t face the enemies yet.
God wants to protect us from our own inadequacies.
Psalms 6:7-8 I will bless the LORD who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
Lets not be hasty when God is leading our lives.
Just because things aren’t getting done quickly enough does it mean God is not on duty?
Maybe God is using this time to protect you from your own foolishness.
GOD GUIDES US
II. WITH THE MEMORY OF PAST VICTORY
God reminded the Israelites of how he freed them from Captivity.
When they smeared the blood of the lamp on their door post and the angel
Of death passed over. (picture of door post)
Exodus 12:14 “You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the LORD.
When we look back on our lives.
Look down the long road.
We discover God was there in the midst of our pain,
And suffering.
It may have been the long road we had to take,
But the lesson is priceless.
(PART RED SEA)
What do you think remembering the parting of the RED SEA
did for the faith of the Israelites?
The Gulf of Suez is 160 miles long and averages 30 miles wide.
Its depth ranges from nine to 14 fathoms.
But his was the very location the Israelites were rescued from Pharaoh’s army.
This was where the water was deep enough to drown all of Egypt’s army.
It may seem that the detours of our lives are deeper then normal
But God brings out of them a powerful victory over their enemy.
Don’t stop when the way get tough.
Keep walking and you will see the glory of God revealed.
They are fed the manna of the wilderness and the quail.
When David was confronted by the giant Goliath.
He was not afraid and he tells us why.
Because he remembered God’s PAST DELIVERANCES.
I Samuel 17:32-37 David told Saul: 32“Don’t worry about a thing, I’ll go fight this Philistine!"Don’t be ridiculous!" Saul replied. "There is no way you can go against this Philistine. You are only a boy, and he has been in the army since he was a boy!"
But David persisted, “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37The LORD who saved me from the claws of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!”
That memory of past victory will give us future courage and faithfulness.
That why we must remember our past victories here at the church.
This isn’t the first time we have trusted God to expand our ministry.
Three different building project took place in the past and
Now turn once again to the future.
BUILDING OF THE CHURCH
Can we trust God?
A cruiser was wrecked in a furious storm and the only survivor
was a little boy who was swept by the waves onto a rock.
He sat there all night long, until the next morning,
he was spotted and rescued. He was asked:
“Did you tremble while you were on the rock during the night?”
“Yes,” said the boy. “I trembled all night – but the rock didn’t”
Our God is an awesome God
He doesn’t not tremble in the storm.
GOD GUIDES US
III. BY SUPERNATURAL DIRECTION
God guides us down the long road:
To develops trust
If the Israelites hadn’t not gone through the wilderness they would
Not have seen the Pillar of cloud and fire.
If they hadn’t gone the long road,
they would not have experienced
the miraculous appearance of water gushing from a rock.
Before you curse God because of your circumstances.
Maybe he knows a little more then you do.
The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend
Who looked at every situation (positive or negative) and remarking,
"This is good!"
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting. The friend
Would load and prepare the guns for the king.
Apparently he loaded the gun in the wrong way and
When the king fired it, it blew his thumb off.
The friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"
To which the king replied, "No, this is not good!"
and sent his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an UNKNOWN AREA.
and Cannibal tribes captured him.
They tied his hands, stacked some wood,
set up a stake to cook him.
But as they did they noticed that the king’s thumb was missing.
Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole.
So they freed the king and sent him home.
On his way home he was remember where he how he had lost his thumb.
And he had put his friend in Jail.
He went to the jail and said “You were right, it was good that my thumb was blown off."
“I am very sorry for sending you to jail.”
"No," his friend replied, "This is good!"
"What do you mean, ’This is good’?
"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."
That is the faith of the Apostle Paul
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
God gives us supernatural direction to guide us.
To develop our own maturity.
God is more interested in our character OF THE Israelites then their arrival.
God is more interested in your character then in your accomplishment.
It took 40 years of supernatural guidance
for God to build the character he wanted in the Israelites.
To get them ready to lean on God’s promises.
To fight the Battles to come.
We don’t want pain or trouble.
We don’t want to have to study and burn the midnight oil,
But God uses it to guide us and correct us and lead us.
The great evangelist Charles Spurgeon once said,
“I dare say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health,
with the exception of sickness.”
How can someone who’s going through the pain of divorce say: "I Still Have Joy?"
How can someone who’s lost a loved one or a best friend say:
"My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
And yet we hear people with MS, and Cancers,
Heart conditions, broken dreams, foolish mistakes SINGING:
"This is my story, this is my song,
I’m praising my savior, all the day the long."
Romans 8: 31-3231What then can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32The one who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for all of us—surely he will give us all things along with him, won’t he?
What can we learn from the Israelites?
That God will not give us His guidance until we need it
So that everyone around us will know it was God’s guidance.
We struggle here at First Church as we discern how to move into the future.
Has it been easy. NO
But it didn’t begin two year ago.
Our journey began when the first Christians came to this town.
And decided we need to do a ministry right here in Aberdeen.
To weigh our incomes, our obligations, our potential,
Our community and churches needs.
A. We can abandon that dream,
4 million dollars is a lot of money.
B. Or we came become a part of a 114 old vision.
To trust in God’s supernatural power.
And see the miracle happen.
God was there in the past to protect Us.
God is here in the present to empower us.
God will be there in the future to encourage and complete us.
Can God guide us today? Yes
Can God guide us for tomorrow? Yes
He can, He does, and He will.
Let US entrust the future of First Methodist Church to God and
His guidance for us.
